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Across the country, there are rivers, creeks and streams stocked by the state, often referred to as put and take (they put trout in, you take them out). And especially early in the season, opportunities for stocked trout can be a solid choice. Other places stock fish under catch and release regs or delayed harvest. Also, some rivers, for various reasons, cannot support wild trout populations and they are entirely reliant on hatchery trout. In other places, it’s a mix of wild and stocked.
Troutbitten has always been primarily focused on fishing for wild trout. Because most anglers would more often choose a wild or natural experience over a manufactured one. So I use the word, experience, because not only are stocked fish produced or raised in a hatchery, once they’re in the river, the experience of fishing for stockies is usually pretty different than fishing for wild trout. And that . . . is what we want to talk about in this conversation.
In other podcasts, we’ve already talked a lot about the value differences between wild vs stocked trout. We’ve gone through the hierarchy of river trout, as we put it.
So upon that foundation, in continuation of those discussions, let’s talk about how our approach changes when the trout are stocked and not wild. Let’s think about water selection, patterns, strategies, and the other things that make fishing for stocked trout more successful. What changes and what is different compared to targeting wild trout?
My friends, Matt Grobe, Bill Dell and Trevor Smith, join me for a great discussion.
Resources
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Wild vs Stocked – The Hierarchy of River Trout
READ: Troutbitten | When Fishing For Stocked Trout, It May Not Pay to Be Ambitious
READ: Troutbitten | Natural vs Attractive Presentations – Convinced or Curious
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Season Fifteen of the Troutbitten Podcast continues next week. So look for episode two in your Troutbitten podcast feed.
Fish hard, friends.
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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
I just would rather fish for a wild trout, actually wild & native trout that are the rule and not the exception in Central Oregon. We’re blessed with Redbands in a couple of our rivers, and we have native Bulltrout (char) in one of them and in the reservoir it feeds into. Very few brown around. Plenty of whitefish too.
Nice discussion gentlemen…
The physical transition from a newly stocked trout to one that has lived in the water a few weeks is pretty significant. White flesh to pink, to deep orange by September (if they made it that long) changes their behavior and response as well, to what we present and how it is presented to them.
I only eat pink, to orange fleshed fish, everything else (heads, skin and fins) finds its way into my flower or veggie garden. The roses love it, and my tomatoes are awesome! Mercury be damned. I’m 73. LOL.
I’ll test your theory tomorrow about whether or not our NY stockies are thoughtful hunters.
Thanks for an honest chat about the ‘other’ side of the fence.
Cheers!
Rich
Would have like your take on the Palomino trout that PA stocks. Do you ever fish for them just for kicks?
FYI: Better Stockies?
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is experimenting with a new strain of brown trout, called the Romiskany strain, which is a mix of Rome and wild Oriskany Creek brown trout genetics, and has been stocked in Oriskany Creek. The Romiskany strain is designed to have better post-stocking survival than the traditional Rome strain due to the inclusion of wild brown trout genetics. The DEC is also collecting milt (sperm) from wild brown trout in Oriskany Creek to further enhance the genetics of the hatchery broodstock.
Not sure those who fish for stockies will appreciate the state making them harder to catch?